The Opium War of 1840 marked a turning point in Chinese history.
The corrupt and incompetent Qing government capitulated to the foreign invaders
time and again, and finally signed the Treaty of Nanjing with Britain, a treaty
of national betrayal and humiliation. From then on, China was reduced
to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country.

After the Opium War, Briatin, the United States, France, Russia
and Japan forced the Qing government to sign various unequal treaties, seized
"concessions" and divided China into "spheres of influence." To oppose
the twin evils of feudal oppression and foreign aggression, the Chinese people
waged heroic struggles, with many national heroes coming to the fore.
The Revolution of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 1851, led by Hong Quiquan,
was the largest peasant uprising in modern Chinese history.

The Revolution of 1911, a bourgeois-democratic revolution led
by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, ended up the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The monarchial
system that had been in place in China for more than 2,000 years was discarded
with the founding of the provisional government of the Republic of China.
The Revolution of 1911 is of great significance in modern Chinese history.
But the fruits of victory were soon compromised by concession on the part
of the Chinese bourgeoisie, and the country entered a period of domination
by the Northern Warlords headed by Yuan Shikai. The peole lived in an
abyss of misery in this period.